You Don’t Really Own Anything Anymore – And Now It’s Even Worse

Published: 2026-03-06

I’m tired of the polite lie: “I bought it, so it’s mine.”

My dad is still happily using a 10-year-old Motorola phone. No YouTube app, but the browser works perfectly. He watches videos, makes calls, replies to messages, everything he needs. The phone is still fast enough for him.

My professor bought a phone in early 2020. After one repair, the company told him: “No more software updates after this.” Six years later the phone still runs perfectly, with all the ads, AI features and bloat. He never replaced it.

My own 30-year-old Haier fridge still keeps food cold like new. The compressor, seals and mechanical parts are fine. Millions of old fridges like this are still running.

These are not rare stories. They are proof that things used to last, until companies decided they shouldn’t.

Phones: When “Yours” Stopped Being Yours

Around 2015 the industry flipped.

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 (2014) was the last big flagship with a user-removable battery. The very next year the S6 glued everything shut to become thinner and more water-resistant. Apple had already been doing this since 2007, but once the big Android brands followed, almost every phone became sealed and non-repairable within two years.

Why? A phone you can’t easily fix or keep alive for 8–10 years forces you to buy a new one sooner.

Google proved the point with Project Ara (2014–2016), a fully modular phone where you could swap the battery, camera or screen yourself. Google killed the project in 2016, right before launch. A phone that never dies is terrible for annual sales.

Today the only mainstream brand still fighting for real ownership is Fairphone. You can replace the battery, screen, camera and even the motherboard in minutes. They have sold just over one million phones in more than ten years. One good iPhone launch sells more than that in a single weekend.

That’s why the rugged, long-life dream died. The market only rewards phones that feel obsolete after 3–4 years.

Laptops: Thin Equals Fragile, Old Equals Tank

Apple MacBooks are the exception. People easily run them for 7–8 years because Apple keeps giving software updates and the build quality is excellent. But everything inside is soldered and glued. You cannot upgrade RAM or storage yourself, and repairs are expensive and controlled by Apple.

Everything else? Most normal Windows laptops are built to feel slow or break after 3–4 years.

There is one bright spot: Framework laptops. Fully modular. You can swap the screen, keyboard, ports, battery and even the main board yourself. True ownership in 2026.

Now compare a brand-new thin laptop to a 15-year-old Lenovo ThinkPad or Dell Latitude.

New laptop: many thin laptops now use fragile dual-hinge designs that loosen over time. The screen can start to wobble easily. That’s the engineering we paid extra for.

Old ThinkPad or Latitude: solid metal hinges built like tanks. The screen doesn’t wobble. The keyboard still feels great. In 2026 you can still install a lightweight Linux distro or keep Windows 10/11 and it works perfectly.

The whole market now sells new flagship features every year (thinner, lighter, faster chips, better screens) but for most normal users the durability and ownership have gone backwards.

Smart Watches & Wearables: Fancy Trackers on Your Wrist

Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch, Google Fitbit and Garmin all slowly lose updates and compatibility. But the extreme example is Whoop.

Whoop is a rental system. You pay $199 to $359 per year (depending on the plan) and they send you the band. The hardware is included in the subscription. You never truly own it. Stop paying and the advanced features disappear.

Most smart watches are fancy fitness trackers on your wrist. They count steps, show notifications, track heart rate. For a small percentage of serious athletes the advanced recovery and strain data is genuinely useful. But for the vast majority of people, a simple Casio or G-Shock does the same basic job for decades. Many models run 10 years on one battery (or use solar and never need a change) and cost maximum 25–40. No subscriptions, no updates, no cloud, no planned death. It just works.

Fridges (and every “smart” appliance) – Now Even the Law Is Against You

My 30-year-old Haier fridge still works perfectly.

A new smart fridge with a big touchscreen, camera, recipe app and video-call feature? When that screen dies (and it will, screens fail long before compressors), the expensive features you paid extra for disappear. The fridge still keeps food cold, but the smart part you bought becomes useless.

It was never about helping you cook or talk to your wife in the kitchen. It was about turning your home into a data-gathering device that slowly dies piece by piece.

But in 2025 it got worse.

Samsung started rolling out a software update to its expensive Family Hub refrigerators (models from $1,800 to $3,499). These fridges were sold with big bright screens for recipes, photos and family notes. The update quietly began showing advertisements and promotions on the idle “Cover Screen”.

You bought the fridge expecting no ads. The update added them anyway.

If you try to remove those ads by modifying the firmware or bypassing the digital locks? That is now illegal under Section 1201 of the DMCA (the same law that protects copyrighted software). Circumventing the technological protection measures on your own refrigerator can be treated as a federal crime, with penalties up to 5 years in prison (especially if the fix is shared).

You paid thousands of dollars for the appliance, but you are not even allowed to stop it from showing ads in your own kitchen.

This is the new level: you don’t own 100 %. You don’t own 50 %. You own less than 1 %. The companies can change the product after you buy it, and the law protects them, not you.

How We Got Here

This didn’t happen only because of greedy companies. We loved the new shiny thing. We want status. We fear missing out. Companies noticed this very human weakness and turned it into a trillion-dollar machine.

Every year the gap between what we actually need and what they sell grows bigger. They cover it with billions in marketing.

The Bigger Picture

This is planned obsolescence dressed as progress:

Companies make far more money when you replace your phone, laptop, watch or fridge every 2–4 years than when you fix the old one.

What You Can Actually Do (real choices that work in 2026)

Phones

Laptops

Watches

Appliances

General rule If the product needs a constant internet connection or monthly fee to stay useful, you don’t own it. You are renting it.

My dad’s 10-year-old Motorola is still going. My professor’s repaired 2020 phone is still going. My 30-year-old fridge is still going. A 15-year-old ThinkPad I see every day in offices is still going. A $25 Casio from 2015 is still going.

They work because they were built in an era when “yours” actually meant yours.

If you want to follow this type of communities and stay in the fight for real ownership, check these out:

In India you can also check the official Right to Repair Portal: https://righttorepairindia.gov.in/

For the latest on the DMCA fight and device-specific fixes (including the Samsung fridge ads and GE water filter DRM), visit: https://bounties.fulu.org/ https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Samsung_ads_in_refrigerators

Join any one of these and you’ll never feel alone again. The more of us who show up, the harder it becomes for companies to keep treating us like renters instead of owners.

If this made you pause before your next upgrade, share it. The more of us who refuse the treadmill, the harder it becomes for them to keep it spinning.